The Client's Hiring Challenges
The client urgently needed to hire a GMP Auditor within a 3-week timeframe to audit their supplier’s active pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Lille, France.
This was a business-critical role; the findings of the successful candidate would drive the client’s market plan and any negative findings had the potential to stop pharmaceutical production all together. They had several major challenges:
A competitive market
There are significant candidate shortages within the GMP space due to all-round high levels of investment in new manufacturing facilities and refurbishment projects across Europe.
Accessing the right skills
The client required personnel with API and GMP credentials. The highly specialised work meant that specific certifications were needed alongside a substantial degree of regulatory experience.
The need for speed
The limited timeframe realistically meant that we needed to deliver a suitable candidate shortlist within just 10 days, and the candidates needed to be immediately available which considerably narrowed the already tight talent pool.
Our versatility and speed solved a business-critical problem, enabling them
to secure their supply chain and the continuation of product supply to their patients.
Our Solution
The highly specialised nature of the client’s work meant that demonstrable GMP market knowledge was essential to understand the scope of what was required, what was at stake for the client, and how to precisely pitch the opportunity to prospective candidates when relaying the expectations of the role.
Our established and comprehensive recruitment process enabled the speed that the client required, and we successfully placed the GMP Auditor within the short timeframe.
- NES Fircroft has supported the Life Science recruitment market for over 15 years and offers a wealth of experience in regards to sourcing professionals for GMP environments.
- We appointed an experienced senior recruiter from our Paris office to lead the search, supported by the wider Life Science recruitment team.
- In total we engaged 150 prospective candidates across France, shortening this to 45 when going into role specifics, and developing a final shortlist of just 3 professionals to convey to the Hiring Manager. A suitable French contractor was subsequently offered the position within a matter of days.
- For cost efficiencies and to enable client flexibility, we enrolled the new hire under a limited company contractor model; all paperwork and necessary compliance was orchestrated by our dedicated compliance team.
The Results
Whilst the successful candidate was initially engaged to perform just one audit, their proficiency quickly led to them undertaking a second audit at another facility in Barcelona, with a third audit now confirmed for another location in Northern France. The quality of the candidate supplied evidenced our competency and reach with the GMP marketplace and further supported a business relationship which is going from strength to strength.